SEX pest Jimmy Savile preyed on girls as young as 13 in a sickening catalogue of abuse spanning five decades, police revealed yesterday.

A senior detective said: “It is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender.”

Commander Peter Spindler said the DJ and Jim’ll Fix It host had “a predilection for teenage girls”. And Scotland Yard warned that other celebrities could face prosecution after a “range of names” was reported to them during their investigations. Officers are following 120 lines of inquiry from up to 30 alleged victims, including two claims of rape against Savile.

The claims are mainly from women who were between 13 and 16 at the time. One man has alleged that Savile abused him.

Savile’s accusers include Karin Ward, who has also made claims against convicted paedophile Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr. Starr denies all wrongdoing.

There have also been claims relating to two unnamed BBC stars, one a soap actor and the other a DJ who is said to have assaulted Radio 1 presenter Liz Kershaw in the 80s.

A BBC employee who worked closely with Savile has been accused of attacking and procuring girls for Savile in the 1970s.

Commander Spindler, head of Scotland Yard’s Specialist Crime Investigations unit, said Savile had carried out his abuse on “a national scale”.

He added: “There is a pattern of behaviour being presented to us which we will analyse and present in a report in some weeks time.”

So far, the only allegations being recorded by police are against Savile himself. They include the two rape claims and six allegations of indecent assault of teenage girls.

The claims date back as far as 1959.

Mr Spindler said: “Information is still coming in. We are getting calls from victims, witnesses and third parties.

“It’s vital that those who have been victims get the recognition, acknowledgement and support they deserve.

“You really shouldn’t underestimate the impact, even after so many years, of reliving these experiences. It will be traumatic for some, if not all of them.”

Mr Spindler added that Glitter could be arrested and questioned in the coming weeks.

Jimmy Savile

The Savile dossier involves alleged victims at the BBC, the Jersey children’s home Haut de la Garenne, Duncroft Approved School in Surrey, Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire and a hospital in Leeds.

Ten officers are working on the inquiry, codenamed Operation Yewtree.

Mr Spindler said information had been passed to the Yard by the BBC’s internal investigations unit. He added: “I am very satisfied with the level of support the BBC has provided.”

Peter Liver, of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said the charity had received more than 40 calls over the last five days following the allegations of abuse against Savile.

Twenty-four were referred to police or other agencies, and 17 were directly related to the Savile inquiry.

He added: “I just want to acknowledge the bravery of the victims who have come forward.”

Earlier, BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten backed the inquiries into Savile by police and the corporation.

He said the allegations could not be excused as behaviour from a time when “attitudes were different”. He added that the BBC’s response to the scandal had to “command credibility”.

David Cameron also backed the police inquiry and described the allegations as “deeply, deeply troubling”.

Savile died last October, aged 84, after being knighted in 1990 for charity work.

He was never prosecuted for sexual abuse. But it emerged last night that five different police forces received separate complaints about him during his lifetime.

Women who claim they were abused by the star at Duncroft Approved School contacted Surrey police in 2007. Officers in Sussex were contacted by another victim a year later.

Jersey, Northamptonshire and West Yorkshire Police were also aware of allegations against Savile. Most of the alleged abuse is said to have happened in the 70s and 80s, when he was at the height of his fame.

The Catholic Church are poised to strip Savile of his papal knighthood.

It comes in the wake of calls for the late TV presenter to lose the British knighthood he was awarded by the Queen in 1990.

Devout Catholic Savile was made a Knight Commander of St Gregory the Great in the same year.

Scotland’s Roman Catholic leader, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, was unavailable for comment last night but a spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said action could be taken.

He explained: “Once all of the evidence has been investigated, many aspects of his life may have to be reviewed – including his papal knighthood.”